Tablet dispenser



April 24, 1962 P. C.'MULDER TABLET DISPENSER Filed Sept. 9, 1959 INVENTOR. PETER C. MULDER United States Patent 3,031,070 TABLET DISPENSER Peter Canisius Mulder, Rome, Italy, assignor to Europea, S.p.A., Rome, Italy Filed Sept. 9, 1959, Ser. No. 838,891 1 Claim. (Cl. 206-42) The present invention relates to dispensers and in particular to tablet, pill or confectionary dispensers.

A particular feature of the invention is the provision of a novel package structure.

Another feature of the invention is the provision of a package composed of two telescoping container units where the units are locked together While affording limited relative motion between the units.

Another feature of the invention is the provision of a novel scheme for locking the container units together.

A further feature of the invention is the provision of a pair of relatively movable telescoping container units defining a closed package While in the telescoped condition, one unit being movable through a limited stroke relative to the other to uncover a dispensing opening, said package including stop means effective to prevent the units from separating from one another completely.

A dispensing package device embracing certain features of the present invention may comprise two individual containers, one container being operable to receive the other in telescoping fashion, said one container being formed with a locking tab operable to engage a dispensing opening formed in the other container, said tab and said opening cooperating further to permit limited relative motion between the containers While locked together effective to expose and to cover the dispensing opening depending upon the disposition of the containers with respect to one another.

A process embracing certain principles of the present invention may comprise the steps of forming an aperture in a container unit, fabricating a deformable locking tab in another container unit, deforming the tab efiective to insert the tab Within the opening, said tab and said opening cooperating to permit limited relative motion between the two container units.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from a study of the succeeding specification when read in conjunction with the appended drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a showing of the developed blank from which the inner carton is fabricated.

FIG. 2 is a similar illustration showing the blank of the outer container.

FIG. 3 shows the erected container units just prior to telescoping. v

FIG. 4 shows the telescoped containers just prior to the manual action of deforming the locking tab to lock the containers together.

FIG. 5 shows the telescoped containers in the fully closed position with the dispensing unit closed.

FIG. 6 shows the telescoped container units in the eX- tended condition with the dispensing opening uncovered and,

FIG. 7 is a vertical section of the illustration of FIG. 6 showing the disposition of the locking tab within the inner container.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown a blank indicated by the reference numeral 10 having a dispensing opening 11 formed therein.

The blank when folded along the dotted score lines, such as those referenced 12-12, is readily erected into the structure 15 shown at the left end of FIG. 3. The

Patented Apr. 24, 1962 solid lines labelled 13--13 represent regions of the blank which are fully severed,

Correspondingly, the blank of FIG. 2, indicated generally by the reference numeral 14, is folded along score lines represented by dotted lines, such as the lines 1616, to form an erected container unit 20 shown in the right in FIG. 3. Here again the solid lines, such as those labelled i7- 17, represent regions in which the blank 14 is fully severed.

Note that the blank 14 is formed with a locking tab 21 operable to be deformed and inserted into the dispenser opening 11 in a manner which will become more apparent hereinafter.

A reference to FIG. 4 reveals that the container unit 15 is received in telescoping fashion within the container unit 29. When the relative position of the units is such that the locking tab 21 is disposed over the dispensing opening 11, slight manual pressure exerted by ones thumb is operable to deform the wings of the tab sufficiently to permit the tab to snap inside the dispenser opening to assume a position illustrated in FIG. 7.

There is sufiicient inherent resilience in the tab to cause the tab to return to its original or natural configuration after insertion into the opening 11.

With the locking tab 21 disposed within the inner container 15, the container units 15 and 20 are locked together to form apackage. However, by virtue of the cooperation between the tab 21 and the dispenser opening 1 1, one can move the container units 15 and 2t relative to one another through a limited stroke from the position shown in FIG. 5 wherein the opening 11 is fully covered to a position represented by the illustration of FIG. 6 wherein the dispenser opening is uncovered,

Thus, the present invention provides a scheme for connecting two container units together to form a package in a way which precludes their inadvertent separation into the original units. At the same time, the invention provides freedom for relative motion between a pair of telescoping container units, to a limited degree, where the limited motion is utilized to cover and uncover a dispensing opening.

It is anticipated that a wide variety of embodiments of the dispensing package and of the method of locking the package units together may be devised without departing from the spirit and scope thereof. a

What is claimed is:

A dispensing package fabricated solely from two single blanks comprising two individual container units operable upon erection to lock together permanently to define a permanently closed structure, each unit having opposed side and end walls, a bottom Wall and an open top, one unit being operable to receive the other in telescopic fashion, said one unit being formed with a winged locking tab integrally connected to an edge of the blank from which said one unit is fabricated, the other unit being References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 621,173 Stinton Mar. 14, 1899 2,889,036 Davies June 2, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 425,671 Great Britain Mar. 19, 1935 

